Consultation with the Man

I recently read an article about a Christian Consultation Firm. Ever heard of one? I hadn’t either but when I stumbled across this article I was intrigued, so I read on. A Christian consultation firm is an organization that comes into a church and assesses it. They basically look at your church and tell you what sucks about it and why (hey, at least they’re honest!) What an awesome job! I have been in several churches where I would have liked to have a conversation like that.

I read a laundry list of proposed problems that can cause a church to suck, maybe you’ll relate to some of these…

1. A stale worship experience! Ever been in one of those? You know the feeling, like walking into a funeral home to celebrate the death of your church!

2. Out of touch and inapplicable sermons! I bet you have never heard one of those now have you?

3. A closed mind to other religious beliefs! You are just to narrow minded, how could a Christian believe Christ is the only way to heaven?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe you should have a worship service that celebrates a God that has pulled you out of the mire and into the light. I believe you should preach sermons that are relevant and are easily applied to life. And I do not believe that preaching Christ as the narrow road leading to heaven will stifle the growth of your church. I do not believe that these are the real reasons most churches are not effective. However, I do believe that we have missed the boat. The main things are no longer the main things, they have been lost!

Imagine if you could hire Jesus to be your personal Christian Consultation Firm. What would he think, feel, and say about your ministry? About your church? What would he say are the greatest things you can do to help your church be effective are? Where would he say effectiveness starts? Well I have a novel idea, let’s look and see. It’s time for a consultation with the Man.

As I stated in my prior blog, the church has gotten so far away from it’s original design and mission that I am not sure Jesus would even recognize them. However, this isn’t the first time in history it has gotten this bad. When the Man came down to earth the first time his people had strayed so far from the main things he had to start all over. Jesus didn’t sit down with the current bureaucratic religious leaders to “reform,” he started with 12 men to re-teach them what mattered.

Even the apostles had it all wrong. When Jesus called them they were ready to march in and overthrow the Roman government. They believed Jesus was there to be their earthly king. They were all jockeying for a position on his right and left. They really believed they knew what this was all about, but they were sadly mistaken.

The religious of Jesus’ day had it all wrong as well. They believed that it was all about following the letter of the law. They believed that it was about looking good. They couldn’t have been more off. At one point tried to trick Jesus by asking him a series of questions (Matt. 22.) They thought they had him when they asked what the greatest commandment was but they didn’t know that they were about to get a consultation with the Man.

Jesus’ answer is so simple yet so profound..

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ Matt. 22:37-42

How many Christian Consulation Firms would you say have given the following answer for why a church sucks…

“After much observation and study of your church we have decided it is ineffective because, well, your church…does not love God. They love many things with all of their heart, soul and mind but God just doesn’t appear to be one of those things. They love their comfort, their pew, their privacy, their tradition, their rules and so many other things, but not God. Oh yeah, and something else that we observed, they really don’t love each other or the lost either.”

How well would that go over? Not well at all! You see we want to think the problem in our churches and ministries is just something that needs to be tweaked. We believe we are ineffective at our mission because we aren’t doing the motions correctly. Folks, if your ministry is not effective it is much more likely that it is not a ministry that loves God and loves people. You see, all of the other stuff you do means nothing if you do not have love. All of the other laws that help your church grow hang on the first two.

What is your ministry focusing on? Have you been teaching that something outside of loving God with everything will help you to be effective? Maybe you need to sit back and honestly evaluate yourself, your ministry and churches love for God. If teaching your people to love God is not the first and greatest thing you do, you have missed the boat and you need a consultation with the man.